IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jhecon/v26y2007i5p950-967.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fraternity membership and binge drinking

Author

Listed:
  • DeSimone, Jeff

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between membership in social fraternities and sororities and binge drinking among 18-24 year old full-time four-year college students who participated in the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior Survey. To deal with unobserved heterogeneity in binge drinking incidence and frequency regressions, I enter as explanatory variables various measures of situational and overall alcohol use. When these are added, the fraternity membership coefficient is substantially reduced in size, but remains large and highly significant. This suggests that fraternity membership increases binge drinking. If not, it identifies a very specific mechanism underlying the decision to join a fraternity: members drink more intensely than non-members even while doing so in similar frequencies and situations and for similar lengths of time. Particularly notable is that behavior by underage students appears to drive the relationship.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • DeSimone, Jeff, 2007. "Fraternity membership and binge drinking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 950-967, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:26:y:2007:i:5:p:950-967
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167-6296(07)00006-9
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lundborg, Petter, 2006. "Having the wrong friends? Peer effects in adolescent substance use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 214-233, March.
    2. Hersch, Joni & Pickton, Todd S, 1995. "Risk-Taking Activities and Heterogeneity of Job-Risk Tradeoffs," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 205-217, December.
    3. J. Williams & Rosalie Liccardo Pacula & Frank J. Chaloupka & Henry Wechsler, 2004. "Alcohol and marijuana use among college students: economic complements or substitutes?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(9), pages 825-843, September.
    4. Michael Kremer & Dan Levy, 2008. "Peer Effects and Alcohol Use among College Students," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 189-206, Summer.
    5. Fersterer, Josef & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2003. "Smoking, discount rates, and returns to education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 561-566, December.
    6. Nicola Persico & Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2004. "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(5), pages 1019-1053, October.
    7. Wechsler, Henry & Lee, Jae Eun & Hall, John & Wagenaar, Alexander C. & Lee, Hang, 2002. "Secondhand effects of student alcohol use reported by neighbors of colleges: the role of alcohol outlets," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 425-435, August.
    8. Nicola Persico & Andrew Postlewaite & Dan Silverman, 2001. "The Effect of Adolescent Experience on Labor Market Outcomes: The Case of Height, Third Version," PIER Working Paper Archive 04-013, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, revised 15 Mar 2004.
    9. Marmaros, David & Sacerdote, Bruce, 2002. "Peer and social networks in job search," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 870-879, May.
    10. William N. Evans & Edward Montgomery, 1994. "Education and Health: Where There's Smoke There's an Instrument," NBER Working Papers 4949, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. repec:mpr:mprres:4324 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Bruce Sacerdote, 2001. "Peer Effects with Random Assignment: Results for Dartmouth Roommates," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(2), pages 681-704.
    13. Frank J. Chaloupka & Henry Wechsler, 1996. "Binge Drinking In College: The Impact Of Price, Availability, And Alcohol Control Policies," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 14(4), pages 112-124, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Vanin, 2013. "Bowling alone, drinking together," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 1635-1672, June.
    2. Lechner, Michael & Fricke, Hans & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2017. "The Effect of Physical Activity on Student Performance in College: An Experimental Evaluation," CEPR Discussion Papers 12052, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Lindo, Jason M. & Swensen, Isaac D. & Waddell, Glen R., 2013. "Alcohol and student performance: Estimating the effect of legal access," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 22-32.
    4. L. Corazzini & A. Filippin & P. Vanin, 2014. "Economic Behavior under Alcohol Influence: An Experiment on Time, Risk, and Social Preferences," Working Papers wp944, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    5. Tom Coupé & W. Robert Reed, 2021. "Do Negative Replications Affect Citations?," Working Papers in Economics 21/14, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    6. Jack Mara & Lewis Davis & Stephen Schmidt, 2018. "Social Animal House: The Economic And Academic Consequences Of Fraternity Membership," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(2), pages 263-276, April.
    7. JEFF DeSIMONE, 2009. "Fraternity Membership And Drinking Behavior," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(2), pages 337-350, April.
    8. Dustin R. White & Benjamin W. Cowan & Jadrian J. Wooten, 2019. "March Madness: Ncaa Tournament Participation And College Alcohol Use," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 449-461, July.
    9. Averett, Susan L. & Terrizzi, Sabrina & Wang, Yang, 2013. "The Effect of Sorority Membership on Eating Disorders and Body Mass Index," IZA Discussion Papers 7512, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. William E. Even & Austin C. Smith, 2022. "Greek Life, Academics, and Earnings," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 57(3), pages 998-1032.
    11. Tom Coupé & W. Robert Reed, 2023. "Do Replications Make a Difference?," Working Papers in Economics 23/10, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    12. Ha, Joung Yeob & Smith, Austin C., 2019. "Legal access to alcohol and academic performance: Who is affected?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 19-22.
    13. Susan Averett & Sabrina Terrizzi & Yang Wang, 2017. "The Effect of Sorority Membership on Eating Disorders, Body Weight, and Disordered‐Eating Behaviors," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(7), pages 875-891, July.
    14. Andrew W. Nutting, 2020. "Height and Adult Alcohol Consumption," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 48(1), pages 115-129, March.
    15. Fricke, Hans & Lechner, Michael & Steinmayr, Andreas, 2018. "The effects of incentives to exercise on student performance in college," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 14-39.
    16. Gawain Heckley & Martin Nordin & Ulf‐G. Gerdtham, 2022. "The health returns of attending university for the marginally eligible student," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(5), pages 877-903, May.
    17. Routon, P. Wesley & Walker, Jay K., 2014. "The impact of Greek organization membership on collegiate outcomes: Evidence from a National Survey," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 63-70.
    18. Jeffrey S. DeSimone, 2010. "Fraternity Membership & Frequent Drinking," NBER Working Papers 16291, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Giuseppe Di Vita & Gianluca Foresta & Carla Zarb?, 2013. "Il consumo giovanile di bevande alcoliche: un?indagine su alcuni modelli comportamentali," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 15(1), pages 203-232.
    20. Jason Fletcher, 2012. "Peer influences on adolescent alcohol consumption: evidence using an instrumental variables/fixed effect approach," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 25(4), pages 1265-1286, October.
    21. Luca Corazzini & Antonio Filippin & Paolo Vanin, 2015. "Economic Behavior under the Influence of Alcohol: An Experiment on Time Preferences, Risk-Taking, and Altruism," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-25, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. JEFF DeSIMONE, 2009. "Fraternity Membership And Drinking Behavior," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(2), pages 337-350, April.
    2. Baul, Tushi, 2013. "Self-selection and peer-effects in experimental labor markets," ISU General Staff Papers 201301010800004327, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Tiziano Arduini & Alberto Bisin & Onur Özgür & Eleonora Patacchini, 2019. "Dynamic Social Interactions and Health Risk Behavior," NBER Working Papers 26223, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Yakusheva, Olga & Kapinos, Kandice & Weiss, Marianne, 2011. "Peer effects and the Freshman 15: Evidence from a natural experiment," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 119-132, March.
    5. Eisenberg, Daniel & Golberstein, Ezra & Whitlock, Janis L., 2014. "Peer effects on risky behaviors: New evidence from college roommate assignments," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 126-138.
    6. Balsa, Ana & Gandelman, Néstor & Roldán, Flavia, 2015. "Peer Effects in the Development of Capabilities in Adolescence," Research Department working papers 820, CAF Development Bank Of Latinamerica.
    7. Ajilore, Olugbenga & Amialchuk, Aliaksandr & Egan, Keven, 2016. "Alcohol consumption by youth: Peers, parents, or prices?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 76-83.
    8. Ana Balsa & Néstor Gandelman & Flavia Roldán, 2017. "Peer and parental influence in the development of cognitive skills and predispostion to risky behaviour," Documentos de Trabajo/Working Papers 1701, Facultad de Ciencias Empresariales y Economia. Universidad de Montevideo..
    9. Haque, Samiul & Abedin, Naveen & Fakir, Adnan M. S. & Hannan, Rafe & Alam, Rafa, 2019. "Effects of smoking on agricultural productivity," 2019 Annual Meeting, July 21-23, Atlanta, Georgia 291149, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Jeffrey Wilson, 2007. "Peer Effects and Cigarette Use Among College Students," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 35(2), pages 233-247, June.
    11. Ryan Yeung & Phuong Nguyen-Hoang, 2016. "Endogenous peer effects: Fact or fiction?," The Journal of Educational Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(1), pages 37-49, January.
    12. Jack Mara & Lewis Davis & Stephen Schmidt, 2018. "Social Animal House: The Economic And Academic Consequences Of Fraternity Membership," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(2), pages 263-276, April.
    13. Wu, Lingling & Zhang, Junyi & Chikaraishi, Makoto, 2013. "Representing the influence of multiple social interactions on monthly tourism participation behavior," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 480-489.
    14. Atella, Vincenzo & Pace, Noemi & Vuri, Daniela, 2008. "Are employers discriminating with respect to weight?: European Evidence using Quantile Regression," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 305-329, December.
    15. de Gendre, Alexandra & Salamanca, Nicolás, 2020. "On the Mechanisms of Ability Peer Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 13938, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Kang, Changhui, 2007. "Classroom peer effects and academic achievement: Quasi-randomization evidence from South Korea," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 458-495, May.
    17. Francesca Gioia, 2017. "Peer effects on risk behaviour: the importance of group identity," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 20(1), pages 100-129, March.
    18. Manu Raghav & Timothy M. Diette, 2022. "Greek myth or fact? The role of Greek houses in alcohol and drug violations on American campuses," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(55), pages 6406-6417, November.
    19. Deconinck, Koen & Swinnen, Johan, 2015. "Peer effects and the rise of beer in Russia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 83-96.
    20. Paolo Buonanno & Paolo Vanin, 2013. "Bowling alone, drinking together," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 1635-1672, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Fraternity membership and binge drinking (Journal of Health Economics 2007) in ReplicationWiki

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:26:y:2007:i:5:p:950-967. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505560 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.